- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has travelled to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Berlin to explore new energy sources and minerals markets.
- Kinsbruner added that German groups have been negotiating contracts in chemicals, skilled labour, renewable energy, logistics, and education.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has travelled to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Berlin, looking for new energy sources and minerals markets due to the Ukraine war. Scholz’s visit will give some clues on where Germany wants to take the relationship next.
According to Kazakh government data, Kazakhstan has more than two trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in addition to oil. Scholz has already signed some key deals with Kazakhstan. Kazakh crude started flowing through the Druzhba pipeline last year, keeping Berlin’s Schwedt refinery running after the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow and Russian supplies dropped off.
“This marked a completely new direction in bilateral cooperation, as no Kazakh oil had previously flowed through this pipeline,” a Kazakh government official said.
Many German companies who shut down businesses in Russia – historically a key hub for Central Asia – have set up their own sales offices and operations across the region, Eduard Kinsbruner, Central Asia regional director at the German Eastern Business Association, said.
Kinsbruner added that German groups have been negotiating contracts in chemicals, skilled labour, renewable energy, logistics, and education, among other sectors. He added that many contracts are expected to be signed during Scholz’s visit.
Kazakhstan—seven times the size of Germany—has lots of space, sun, and wind for energy projects. In Kazakhstan’s southwestern region of Mangystau, Germany-based SVEVIND Energy Group is developing what it says is one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects, with a planned 40 gigawatts of renewable power capacity.
In 2023, Kazakhstan exported 8.5 million tons of oil to Germany, accounting for 11.7 per cent of Germany’s total oil imports. That was up from around 6.5 million tons before the Ukraine war. According to data from Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, that jump made Kazakhstan Germany’s third-largest supplier after Norway and the United States.
German investments in Kazakhstan rose by 64 per cent last year compared with 2022, according to data from Kazakh Invest, a government agency.
“Because of the regimes and the political system, Central Asia wasn’t a top priority for Germany,” said Stefan Meister, a Central Asia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “But the war has fundamentally changed this dynamic.”
Trade between Kazakhstan and Germany almost doubled after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with turnover rising by 89.5 per cent in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to German Eastern Business Association data.
“When we look to the future, we see great potential,” a German government official said ahead of the trip. Germany will need gas for two more decades. The tenders for new gas power plants (in Germany), which will all be hydrogen-ready, are currently in their final stages. This means they will need to get gas from somewhere.